America’s Factory Towns, Once Solidly Blue, Are Now a GOP Haven

WSJ ^ | 07/19/2018 | Bob Davis and Dante Chinni

[SpeedyInTexas]

The Republican Party has become the party of blue-collar America.

After the 1992 election, 15 of the 20 most manufacturing-intensive Congressional districts in America were represented by Democrats. Today, all 20 are held by Republicans.

[SpeedyInTexas]

Blue-collar working people are going to be key for Trump's re-election. Tariffs play well with them.

The more tariffs the better, for America's economy and Trump's re-election.

[central_va]

Tariffs are patriot candy! More candy!

[dfwgator]

The return of the “Reagan Democrats”.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I have spent the bulk of my life around places like the Monongahela Valley, Toledo, and Flint, Michigan.

People in these places are sick and tired of BOTH parties telling them that globalization will be good for them in the long run. After a three decade experiment that is a NO SALE.

Trump is not really a Republican, which surely benefits him in this case too. Open borders for cheap labor, offshoring and Chinese imports do not play well with these folks.

[Behind the Blue Wall]

Yup. It’s unbelievable to look back and see that for most of the past two to three decades, there was no one representing these people, who are really at the core of what makes America great. Thank God that we finally have someone willing and able to do it.

[central_va]

You will notice the Free Traitor™ cadre on Free Republic will not go near this thread....

[GonzoII]

"Today, all 20 are held by Republicans"

That's hard to fathom!

[Red Badger]

Gee, what happened in 1992?.......HMMMMMMM?.................The CLINTON INFECTION WAS ELECTED!....................

[TakebackGOP]

Thanks to Trump!

[MichaelCorleone]

I don’t know if most people realize how important this is to reviving America.

It is right and just on its own grounds, but the fact is without a large and thriving middle class, we will NEVER make America great again.

Sorry it that hurts the globalists’ feelings, but too bad.

No one, save the great Ronald Reagan, understands this like our own President Trump.

[setha]

It extends even longer when you look at the rural areas around those manufacturing regions. They heard the same unfulfilled promises, packaged in different ways.

[TallahasseeConservative]

Tariffs plus the Dems ridiculous statements on guns and religion.

[cgbg]

“Free trade” agreements that are the size of encyclopedias are not exactly what the old laissez faire economists had in mind.

Those agreements were crony capitalism at its finest with big businesses around the world stacking the deck to enrich themselves.

That is the current environment—so “free trade” vs tariffs today is a phony debate.

The real debate is between the miserable existing trade agreements vs tariffs.

[taxcontrol]

Many in America are being red pilled

[RayChuang88]

Many have parents who lost their jobs in the late 1970's when steel mills in Pennsylvania and Ohio closed almost all at once because tax laws and other regulations made them effectively uncompetitive against foreign competition (at that time against the likes of Japanese steel companies with far more modern steel mills).

Now, Trump is pushing to correct that imbalance and to promote regulations that make making steel in the USA financial viable again.

[central_va]

Now, Trump is pushing to correct that imbalance and to promote regulations that make making steel in the USA financial viable again.

It was always viable. It just the CEO's and staff want 7 vacation homes instead of one.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I think what happened with Trump is that globalization finally got around to hollowing-out manufacturing towns in the South too. They realized that these people in Flint and Youngstown actually had a point, and....voila, President Trump.

[DungeonMaster]

Democrat solution: Destroy more factory towns!

[DoodleDawg]

Blue-collar working people are going to be key for Trump's re-election. Tariffs play well with them.

The more tariffs the better, for America's economy and Trump's re-election.

If all goes well. From the story: "If President Trump’s aggressive trade policy toward China, the European Union and elsewhere resonates, that could put Republicans over the top in these places. If his tariffs—and retaliation—damage local economies, the GOP could find its blue-collar base in a surly mood or apathetic about voting."

Tariffs are already causing issues in the farm belt among soybean and pork producers. It may well be too close to the 2018 election for tariffs to impact U.S. exporters to any great extent, or cause significant increases in the cost of imported goods. But if it drags on then it could have an effect on the 2020 elections.

[Alberta's Child]

I’ve been saying this for two years ... for all the talk of formerly solid GOP states turning “purple” (North Carolina) and “light blue” (Virginia), what’s been overlooked is that even before the 2016 election the GOP had made some serious inroads in formerly “red” states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.